Southaven investigates officer misconduct allegation

Woman: Southaven officers threatened my life over perscribed medication
Published: Sep. 7, 2017 at 4:44 PM CDT|Updated: Sep. 7, 2017 at 5:52 PM CDT
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SOUTHAVEN, MS (WMC) - Southaven Police Department is looking into a viral video in which a woman alleges misconduct by its officers.

In the video (which has been shared more than 6,000 times) the woman, identified as Arteciah Nunn, said she was arrested for having unlabeled medicine.

"They treated me like a criminal for [having] my prescription," Nunn said. "I felt like I was fixing to die."

When the officer made the arrest, she said they made threats against her life and she thought she was going to die.

"Don't come to Southaven, Mississippi, because they're racist," Nunn's friend can be heard saying on the video.

You can watch the full Facebook video below (WARNING: The video contains profanity):

SPD spokesman Mark Little said there has been no formal complaint against the department. Despite this, the SPD police chief is aware and looking into the incident.

"You can get on Facebook and say whatever you want and people take it as the truth, so our internal investigation will open up what exactly did happen by talking to the officers," Little said.

WMC Action News 5 attempted to contact Nunn, but she never responded to our requests for a comment.

A police report states the incident happened at the Holiday Inn located on Marathon Way near the intersection of Airways Boulevard on Sunday, Sept. 3 around 4:30 a.m.

Police said a officers were doing an extra patrol in the area when they noticed Nunn asleep inside a running, parked silver car. When the officers approached the vehicle, Nunn woke up.

She rolled down the window, and the officer asked for identification. While Nunn was looking for her license, officers noticed an orange pill bottle in her purse.

Nunn told the officers it was prescription for her back pain, and officers later identified the single white pill in Nunn's orange pill bottle as a 5 mg Hydrocodone.

Police said Nunn told the officers the Walgreens label was torn off, but they noticed the only readable part of the label said Walmart. When officers questioned her again, police said Nunn changed her story.

Nunn pulled out her cellphone and called her mother, who was inside the motel. Officers said they gave Nunn several commands to not only hang up the phone, but also to not tell anyone else to come outside.

"He said 'Don't pick that phone, I'm going to throw that phone and throw it across the parking lot,'" Nunn recalled. "And then he told me 'You better comply and shut up before I take you, and I throw you on the ground and put my knees in your back.'"

Once the officers verified that it was a controlled substance in the pill bottle, they asked Nunn to get out of the vehicle. They then placed her under arrest.

Police said officers had a difficult time getting Nunn to comply with commands during the arrest process.

Nunn was charged with possession of a controlled substance and disorderly conduct.

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